They were both pointless twists that left sour tastes in some peoples' mouths. It just baffles me that one plot that was crammed down audience's mouths was lauded and the other is seen as a total slap in the face. Especially when the TDKR one involved a character who is as iconic as his partner, but was downgraded to forced sequel bait.

The Mandarin on the other hand is one of the lamest villains of one of the worst rogues galleries in superhero comics. And yet people are up in arms when MS has been saying since day one that basically, yeah, this villain is getting a complete facelift. If you're a fan or didn't like the way in which it was done, that's fine. But let's not act like this sort of thing wasn't eaten up when Chris Nolan's name was written on it, or that the Iron Man movies really missed out on exploring deep antagonists.

I'll take Rourke's goofy Whiplash over the comics version any day. As you guys can tell I'm not too torn up about Mandarin either. Iron Man's third acts are reflective of how underdeveloped his supporting cast always has been. Does it leave more to be desired? Sure. But it's making the most of the source material. I'm actually grateful they've deviated a bit in terms of the villains. There wasn't much there to begin with. Same with Iron Man himself really.

This!!! Iron Man takes the cake for one of the worst rogue galleries of all heroes. Mandarin is the top of the bottom of the totem pole, which doesn't make him any better.